Content:

(HHH, CoCo, AcapAcap, LLL, V, SSS, NNN, AA, D, M) Strong humanist worldview with a Marxist, anti-capitalist subtext; 78 obscenities; implied & depicted fornication, including an orgy scene; full nudity with most of the male private parts blacked out on purpose & some, but not all, of the female; alcohol use & drunken revelry during orgy scene; and, deception & making disturbances in public on purpose, in one instance escaping the bill at an expensive restaurant.

Summary:

In THE IDIOTS, a troubled woman joins a commune of younger people who behave like mentally handicapped, spastic people to “find their inner idiot” and shock the middle-class people around them. The actress playing the troubled woman is a sympathetic figure who helps hold this meandering, low-budget drama together, but the movie contains strong foul language, explicit sex and nudity, and a humanist worldview.

Review:

THE IDIOTS is a Danish movie from Lars von Trier, the leader of a group of neo-Marxist filmmakers that purposefully uses low-budget film techniques to make dramatic movies that don’t easily fit into genre categories. In the story of this movie, a troubled woman named Karen, who’s in her mid to late 30s, joins a commune of younger people who behave like mentally handicapped, spastic people whenever they go into public. Stoffer, the leader of the commune, urges his people to “find their inner idiot” and shock the middle-class complacency of the people around them. This mission bonds the commune together, a bonding which Karen finds greatly satisfying. Stoffer’s efforts to get his comrades to act like idiots on their jobs and with their families results in the group’s breakup, however, and the secret about Karen’s troubled recent past is sadly revealed.

On a purely dramatic, entertainment level, THE IDIOTS is probably more successful than the director’s other recent movies. The actress playing Karen is a sympathetic figure who helps hold this meandering, comical drama together. That said, the movie includes an orgy scene with explicit nudity, much foul language and the strongly humanist, neo-Marxist worldview of Von Trier. This worldview is, of course, empty, as well as false.

In Brief:

THE IDIOTS is a Danish movie from Lars von Trier, the leader of a group of Marxist filmmakers that purposefully uses low-budget film techniques to make dramatic movies that don’t fit into genre categories. In this movie, a troubled woman named Karen joins a commune of younger people who behave like mentally handicapped people whenever they go into public. Stoffer, the leader of the commune, urges his people to “find their inner idiot” and shock the middle-class complacency of the people around them. This mission bonds the commune together, a bonding which Karen finds greatly satisfying. Stoffer’s efforts to get his comrades to act like idiots on their jobs and with their families results in the group’s breakup, and the secret about Karen’s troubled recent past is sadly revealed.

On a purely dramatic level, THE IDIOTS is probably more successful than the director’s other recent movies. The actress playing Karen is a sympathetic figure who helps hold this meandering, comical drama together. That said, the movie includes an orgy scene with explicit nudity, much foul language and the strongly humanist worldview of Von Trier. This worldview is empty, as well as false